Cosmetic container cup



Dec. 3, 1957 A SAFlANOljF 2,815,123 COSMETIC CONTAINER cm Filed Nov. 28, 1955 United States Patent COSMETIC CONTAINER CUP Albert Safianolr, Chicago, 111., assignor to The Gillette Company, Boston, Mass., a corporation of Delaware Application November 28, 1955, Serial No. 549,384

3 Claims. (Cl. 206-56) This invention relates to a cosmetic container and pertains more specifically to an improved cup construction for receiving and retaining one end of a cosmetic pomade composition such as a lipstick.

Cosmetic pomade compositions are conventionally made in the form of a stick or elongated body of soft plastic material, one end of which is secured within a cup-like holder of metal or plastic. The cup or holder may be provided with an elongated removable cover for protecting the pomade stick, or the cup together with the pomade stick may be mounted in a housing provided with a removable cover and means may be provided for advancing and retracting the cup together with the pomade stick within the housing. In the manufacture of such devices the pre-formed rod or stick of pomade composition is customarily forced endwise into a cup of the proper dimensions and held therein simply by friction. Frequently ribs or tangs are pressed inwardly from the wall of the cup, especially in the case of metal cups, or inwardly directed longitudinally extending ribs are provided in an effort to anchor the pomade stick in place in the cup. Nevertheless, because such cosmetic containers, particularly lipstick containers, are subject to jars, shocks, and vibration both in transit from the manufacturer to the retailer and also while they are being carried by the consumer, a problem has existed in maintaining the stick permanently and securely in place in the cup. Once the stick has become loosened or has been jarred out of the cup, of course, the device becomes useless. The problem has been particularly severe in the case of those cosmetic compositions which are relatively soft and slippery in nature.

One object of the present invention is to provide a cosmetic container cup construction having means for firmly retaining the cosmetic composition in place.

Another object is to provide a lipstick cup having a retaining obstruction mounted transversely inside the cup in spaced relation to the bottom and wall thereof to permit the composition to flow therearound under pressure as it is forced into the cup.

Still another object is to provide a lipstick cup having lipstick retaining means in the form of an elongated anchor member mounted in its interior in spaced relation to the bottom and sides of the cup and tapering in thickness toward the mouth of the cup, the anchor member being adapted to be embedded in the mass of lipstick composition as the lipstick is fonced into the cup.

A further object is to provide a lipstick cup construe tion of molded plastic material having means for firmly retaining the lipstick in the cup.

Other and further objects will be apparent from the drawing and from the description which follows.

In the drawing:

Fig. 1 is a view in vertical section of the assembled cosmetic container showing the cup in retracted position;

Fig. 2 is an isometric view of the driving member of the assembly of Fig. l;

Fig. 3 is an isometric view, partly broken away and in section, of the improved cup construction of the present invention;

Fig. 4 is a plan view of the cup;

Fig. 5 is a view in vertical section along the line 5-5 of Fig. 4; and

Fig. 6 is a view on an enlarged scale of one portion of Fig. 5 showing the cosmetic composition in place in the cup.

The container embodying the cup of the present invention in its preferred aspect is of molded plastic construction except for the cover or cap member which may be of thin sheet metal. It includes a sleeve member 10 open at both ends over which tubular cover or cap member 12 fits telescopically. Slidably mounted Within sleeve member 10 is a cup member 14 having a threaded hollow shank 16 secured to the bottom of the cup for movement therewith. Cup 14 is provided with a plurality of flats extending longitudinally in mating relationship with corresponding flats on the inner wall of sleeve 10, as shown in Fig. 1. The mating polygonal configurations of sleeve member 10 and cup member 114 permit these two members to move axially with respect to each other while preventing relative rotation thereof. Mounted in the lower end of sleeve 10 for rotation with respect to the sleeve and cup member is a driving member 18 of generally tubular construction having a closed bottom end of enlarged diameter which serves as a knob or handle for manual rotation of the driving member with respect to the sleeve and cup. Driving member 18 is held against axial movement with respect to sleeve 10 by means of outwardly extending flanges 20 which engage a shoulder on the inner wall of sleeve 10 and by an external shoulder which abuts the end of sleeve 10. The upper portion of driving member 18 is slotted axially as shown in Fig. 2 to permit flanges 20 to spring inwardly and ride over the shoulder on the inner wall of sleeve 10 during the assembly operation. Driving member 18 is also provided with a pair of inwardly extending projections 22, 22 which slidably interengage with the threaded member 16. Seated in cup 14 is a stick or rod 24 of cosmetic pomade composition such as a lipstick.

The several parts of the container are preferably molded or otherwise formed from any suitable resilient plastic material, although cover 10 may desirably be made of metal. Cup 14 and threaded shank 16 as well as driving member 18 are preferably molded of a relatively hard plastic material such as polystyrene, a polyamide, a polyacrylate, or a hard vinyl resin, etc., while sleeve 10 is preferably molded from a softer more elastic material such as polyethylene, natural or synthetic rubber, ora rubber-like vinyl resin composition.

The cosmetic pomade stick, which may be of any conventional composition, is a soft, plastic, relatively slippery material and is held in place in the cup by means of a retaining member comprising an elongated obstruction in the form of a ring 26 mounted within the cup in spaced relation to the flat bottom 28 and the cylindrical side wall 30, ring 26 being supported by means of a plurality of radially inwardly extending ribs or flanges 32 which are generally parallel to the axis of the cup. While the retaining means in the preferred embodiment takes the form of ring 26, it may be in the form of any otherelongated obstruction extending transversely of the cup in spaced relation to the bottom and side wall thereof. As shown in Fig. 4, obstruction or ring 26 preferably overlies the circular aperture 34 in the bottom of the cup, the outer diameter of ring 26 being equal to the diameter of aperture 34. In addition, obstruction or ring 26 preferably is tapered in cross-sectional thickness toward the mouth of the cup to facilitate flow of the cosmetic composition around it. It will be noted that the design of the cup and retaining means is such that it may all be molded as a single integral unit.

It is not essential that ring 26 be a continuous circle; it may be interrupted by one or more gaps, the total length of the obstructions preferably being equal to at least one and one half times the inner diameter of the cup, While the diameter of aperture 34 is preferably at least half the inner diameter of the cup. The cross-sectional width of obstruction or ring 26 may vary considerably, but for best results it should be between and of the inner diameter of the cup, as should the cross-sectional thickness of the ring (measured axially of the cup). The spacing between the obstruction and the bottom and side wall of the cup is preferably from 1 4 to the inner diameter of the cup.

Assembly of the several parts of the device into mating relationship as shown in Fig. 1 may take place either before or after the stick of cosmetic composition 24 has been seated in cup 14'. simply by inserting cup 14- together With threaded shank 16 into the upper end of sleeve 10 then forcing driving member 18 inwardly through the other end of sleeve 10 until flanges 2t engage over the inner shoulder of sleeve 10. The slotted upper end of driving member 18 is sufficiently flexible radially and the clearance between the several parts sufficiently great to permit this operation to becarried out without difliculty. When assembled, rotation of driving member 18 with respect to sleeve 10 causes cup 14 together with threaded shank 16 to move axially with respect to sleeve 10 by reason of the interengagement of projections 22 with the threaded shank.

In assembling the device of the present invention, the pre-formed rod or stick 24 of cosmetic pomade composition such as lipstick is forced endwise into the open mouth of the cup, the outer diameter of the cosmetic stick being equal to or slightly less than the inner diameter of the cup. As the end of the cosmetic stick advances into the cup, it comes in contact with the edges of supporting ribs 32 and also with the upper edge of ring 26. Since the stick is forced into the cup under pressure, the material in contact with these relatively narrow edges softens and flows slightly so that ring 2 6 advances into the body of the stick. When the bottom of the stick comes in contact with the fiat bottom of the cup, the pressure developed when the inserting force is continued for even a vary short period of time causes the cosmetic composition to flow toward the aperture in the bottom of the cup, as shown in Fig. 6, so that ring 26 becomes embedded in the mass of the cosmetic stick. Since only moderate pressure can be employed in forcing the cosmetic stick into the cup in order to avoid deformation and marring of that portion of the stick which extends outwardly from the mouth of the cup, only moderate flow of the composition into the aperture occurs, the inserting These parts may be assembled 0 force preferably being released before any substantial quantity of the composition is forced completely through the aperture. When the inserting force and the resulting pressure on the composition are released, flow immediately ceases and the composition quickly sets up or hardens to its original consistency with retaining anchor ring embedded within it. Tapering of the cross-sectional thickness of ring 26 toward the mouth of the cup facilitates flow of the cosmetic composition around the ring under pressure, while the flat bottom surface of ring 26 provides for a good purchase on the cosmetic stick, preventing or hindering withdrawal of the stick from the cup.

The construction of the present invention has been found to be remarkably effective in retaining the cosmetic stick in place, even when the cosmetic composition is unusually soft and slippery, under conditions of jar-ring and vibration much more severe than those normally encountered, while cups of conventional construction fail to'retain the same stick under these conditions.

Although I have herein described specific embodiments of my invention, I do not intend to limit myself solely thereto, but to include all of the obvious variations and modifications within the spirit and scope of the lappended claims.

I claim:

1. A lipstick container comprising a cup for holding an end of the lipstick composition, said cup having a generally cylindrical wall and a generally flat bottom with a generally circular aperture therethrough, the margin of said aperture being spaced inwardly from said wall, a plurality of ribs secured to said wall and extending radially inwardly therefrom to a point adjacent the margin of said aperture, an obstruction in the form of a ring secured to said ribs adjacent the inner ends thereof, said ring lying generally in a plane parallel to said flat bottom and spaced from said bottom and said wall by a distance equal to one-fourth to one-tenth the inner diameter of the cup.

2. A lipstick container as defined in claim 1 in which the outerdiameter of said obstruction ring is substantially equal to the diameter of said aperture.

3. A lipstick container as defined in claim 1 in which the cross-sectional thickness of the obstruction ring gradually diminishes toward the mouth of the cup.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,899,748 Cornell Feb. 28, 1933 2,014,697 Reichenbach Sept. 17, 1935 2,178,279 Fullmer Oct. 31, 1939 2,318,152 Gelardin May 4, 1943 FOREIGN PATENTS 583,343 Great Britain Dec. 16, 1946 

